Step 4: Cut!

Step 5: Conclusion

Picture 1 shows the result. Here is the time breakdown for the third of three housings I machined: 90 minutes for set up, tooling, mounting, and cent...

Hi. In this instructable, we are making a light ring. It's a part that goes on the front of an underwater robot (Picture 2).

You can read up more on the context in Part 1 of the instructable, but here's the short version: our research robot's current lighting system has some issues, so this redesign will produce a better-performing, more robust system. This way, we'll be able to see where we're going, take pictures of interesting organisms, and blind fish.

The cover picture gives a decent overview of the light ring. It has a hard anodized aluminum housing with an acrylic cover, and it is sealed with o-rings and screws. In a future instructable, we will wire up electronics and seal them inside the vessel.

Picture 3 shows the part that we are finishing in this instructable. The operations will be on the CNC mill. This part was started in Part 1 of the instructable, where we had machined several features with critical dimensions on the lathe.

This was my first time completing the CAM and cut for a CNC milling operation. So this guide documents a beginner's perspective on the machine, and it's probably most useful for other people who are learning CNC machining.

I made this part at TechShop, a community maker space. See www.techshop.ws.